(Photo of Councilman Simcha Felder with Councilman David Yassky) Crown Heights Jewish leaders are slated to step into a charged Brooklyn congressional race today when they endorse City Councilman David Yassky, the Daily News has learned. Members of the Crown Heights Political Action Committee – the political arm of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council – are expected to make the announcement with Yassky at a City Hall press conference. “He had a sensitive ear to our needs while a councilman, and we remembered that,” said Rabbi Nochum Gross, former chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council.

The other candidates are state Sen. Carl Andrews (D-Crown Heights), City Councilwoman Yvette Clarke (D-Flatbush) and Chris Owens, son of the retiring incumbent.

Political observers said as the contested race heats up in the final days before the Sept. 12 primary, the endorsement could be important because of the community’s record for voting as a bloc and for getting the vote out.

“When you’re in hand-to-hand combat, every vote counts,” said consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

“If this is tight, this could put Yassky over the top.”

Crown Heights Jewish leaders estimated they could turn out “thousands” of votes.

But political watcher Evan Stavisky said Yassky already needed to do well among Crown Heights Jewish voters, meaning the endorsement is notable, but “not make or break.”

“The electoral map for David Yassky requires him to get overwhelming support in the white community, and particularly in the Jewish community,” said Stavisky.

Yassky, who has raised the most money of the candidates in the race, said, “I’m honored to have their support,”.

The race is expected to split along racial lines, and the winner likely will be the candidate who can pull out the most votes on primary day.

Clarke, the anticipated favorite among Caribbean voters, has picked up key support from two powerful Service Employees International Union locals, 1199 SEIU and 32BJ.

Andrews has garnered endorsements from the teachers union, the AFL-CIO and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, among others.

Meanwhile, Owens scored an endorsement yesterday from the New York Amsterdam News, the third African-American newspaper to back him.

“It’s very important to have that support, because it represents the concerns of African-Americans in New York and throughout the country,” said Owens.

NYDN